Entry rollway for cooling beds for rod rolling mills

ABSTRACT

An entry rollway for cooling beds for rod rolling mills includes vertically movable inclined bottom plates for lateral delivery of the rods on to the cooling bed. Several successively arranged tapered guide members are provided for deflecting the arriving ends of the rods and of which the lifting mechanism is adapted to be cut off additively and progressively in order to displace the deflection point to the cooling bed.

O United States Patent 1 1 1111 ,760,931

Buchheit 1 Sept. 25, 1973 ENTRY ROLLWAY FOR COOLING BEDS [56] References Cited FOR ROD ROLLING MILLS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [75] Inventor: Otto Karl Buchheit, Ingbert, 256,224 12/1926 Italy 198/ 127 Saar, Germany 128,734 2/1959 U.S.S.R 198/127 Assignefii Moenel & Neumal-m GmbH, Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Ingbert Saar Germany AttorneyJohn J Dennemeyer 22 Filed: Nov. 12i69 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 875,765

I An entry rollway for cooling beds for rod rolling mills [30] Foreign Application Priority Data includes vertically movable inclined bottom plates for Nov. 12, 1968 Germany P 18 08 333.5 lateral e y of the d on to the coolin bed. Several successively arranged tapered guide members are 52 US. Cl. 198/127 Provided for deflecting the miving ends the mds [51 1 Int. Cl. B65g 13/02 and of which the mechanism is adapted b cut [58] off additively and progressively in order to displace the Field of Search 198/127, 219, 218,

deflection point to the cooling bed.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEUSEPZBW 3.760.931-

' sumzenfts Y Fig, 3

1 ENTRY ROLLWAY FOR COOLING BEDS FOR ROD ROLLING MILLS The invention relates to an entry rollway for cooling beds in rod rolling mills for guiding, retarding and separating rods following closely to one another. The close sequence of the rods is obtained when the rods are cut to length of the cooling bed by rotary cutters arranged in front of the cooling bed.

To slow down the rods and to feed them from the entry rollway to the cooling bed the entry rollway is provided at the side remote from the cooling bed with fixed bottom plates running between the rollway rolls and with bottom plates which are adapted to be raised and lowered at the side nearest the cooling bed, the latter being the so-called braking shifters. Since each rod requires a braking path dependent on its speed in order to come to rest on the raised base plates on the cooling bed side and at least one adjacent slide channel, the length of the entry rollway is designed to suit the braking path for the maximum arriving speed of the products. The cooling bed is however shorter than the sum of the maximum braking path plus the rod length so that the entry rollway is set forward from the cooling bed for a portion of the rollway.

Since with a compact sequence of rods a following rod in each case must overlap the preceding rod subject to the braking action, the foremost rising and falling base plate of the entry rollway immediately beyond the rotating shears is arranged as a tapered guide member which, with the base plate raised on the cooling bed side and on which the preceding rods slide, deflects in each case the following rod to the part of the rollway with the stationary bottom plates. For this purpose it is moreover necessary to allow the rollway rolls to run more rapidly than the speed at which the rods pass the rotating shears in order that the ends of the following rods are spaced from one another for without these gaps between the rods a regular deflection of the following rods becomes impossible.

As already stated the length of the entry rollway in front of the cooling bed corresponds to the braking path for the rods for the maximum arrival speed. In such case the rods come to rest exactly coincidentally with the length of the cooling bed. If however rolling is effected at a smaller speed which however is necessarily the case with larger roll products the rods being retarded, even if cut to the length of the cooling bed, no longer come to rest with their front and rear ends coincident with the ends of the cooling bed. To allow for this the length of the cooling bed must be extended towards the rolling for the smaller entry speeds at the cost of the rollway portion preceding the cooling bed which leads to occasional incomplete utilisation of the available cooling bed surface. v

In order to avoid this the entry rollway of the cooling bed is normally divided into two separately operating shifter groups (German Pat. No. 1,017,577). The shifter group in the entry rollway in front of the cooling bed is the so-called deflector shifter group and the shifter in the region of the cooling bed is the braking shifter group. if rolling is effected at a lower speed the slide path of the rod is therefore smaller than the length of the entryrollway in front of the coolingbed control of the two shifter groups is necessary as hereinafter described.

For this purpose the deflector shifter group must be controlled to move upwardly in order to perform the necessary separation of the rods before the tip of the following rod encounters the foremost tapered shifter of the entry rollway in front of the cooling bed. On the upward movement of the deflector shifter the first entering rod is lifted from the conveyance region of the rolls of the entry rollway and shifted into the region of the deflector member on the bottom plates of this deflector.

The main part of this rod lies, however, on the driven rolls in the region of the still depressed brake shifters so that it is conveyed thereby onwards in the direction of the cooling bed. When now the end of the first arriving rod which is drawn over the bottom plates of the raised deflector shifter is separated from the start of the cooling bed by an amount which is equal to the slide movement resulting from the particular speed concerned, the brake shifter in the region of the cooling bed also commences its upward movement and thereby starts the slide motion of the rod so that the end of the rod is positioned with its end at the start of the cooling bed.

This system of an entry rollway with a deflector shifter and a brake shifter group requires two drivers each with their own control in order to take account of the various entry speeds. Further the system cannot be applied if a rod cut to cooling bed length is sheared into several partial finished lengths. With the deflecting procedure described above already some partial lengths would have been subjected to complete braking on the raised deflector shifters and the cooling bed would not even be reached.

The object of the invention is to eliminate the influence of different entry speeds of the rods supplied to the entry rollway in reference to the length of the cooling bed or of the rod lengths to be transferred to the cooling bed, while employing a single drive system for the rise and fall bottom plates, in order that for any expected rolling speed rods can be supplied to the lengths of the cooling bed or also divided into shorter lengths and to permit the same maximum rod lengths to be used with the minimum cooling bed length.

The invention attains this object by the fact that sev- .eral tapered rod deflecting guide members are provided in spaced positions within the rollway section proceding the cooling bed and the common rise and fall drive of the guide members as well as of the bottom plates following the guide members is adapted to be cut off additively or progressively in the direction of travel of the rods. Thereby the deflection point to the cooling bed can be displaced for a reduced rolling speed to ensure that in every case, even with a reduced brake path or divided cooling bed lengths, the ends of the rods reach the ends'of the cooling bed.

Expressed in other words the moment of the start of the braking can be delayed to suit the given brake path extending to the end of the cooling bed, without the regular deflection of the rod following the raised rod being affected. The smaller the rod speed on the rollway the more tapered guide members with their following bottom plates as seen from the start of the rollway must be held in the lower position that is to say the lifting and lowering drive concerned made inoperative.

Usually the whole lifting and lowering drive consists of a reciprocating pull rod with angle levers attached to the bottom plates on the cooling bed side. According to a further development for additively or progressively cutting off the groups of tapered guide members and associated bottom plates, component parts of the pull rod are connected together by hydraulic piston cylinder units which transmit tension only in the locked position but otherwise operate idly.

One constructional example of the invention is shown by way of example on the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a plan of a rollway portion of the entry rollway following a rotating shears, with a portion of the cooling bed,

FIG. 2 is a cross section through the entry rollway and,

FIG. 3 shows a portion of a rise and fall drive for adjacent groups of tapered guide members and bottom plates.

The entry rollway 4 preceding the cooling bed 2 consists of rollway rolls 6 inclined towards the cooling bed, between which on the side of the entry channels remote from the cooling bed fixed bottom plates 8 are disposed and rise and fall bottom plates 10 are provided on the cooling bed side. In the constructional example an entry rollway for high entry speeds is shown in which the rods ejected on to the rise and fall bottom plates 10 do not pass directly into the slide channel 12 from which they are lifted by the swing rakes of the rake cooling bed 2, but rather the still sliding rods pass with lateral movement into an intermediate channel consisting of the fixed bottom plates 14 and rise and fall bottom plates 16 as shown in German Pat. No. 1,066,528.

On the portion of the rollway forming part of the entry rollway 4 preceding the cooling bed 2, which commences shortly beyond a rotating shears 18, there is provided beyond the third rollway roll 6 a tapered guide member 20 at the commencement of the rise and fall bottom plates 10 on the cooling bed side which, with these bottom plates raised, deflect an on coming rod to the outer part of the rollway provided with the fixed bottom plate 8 where it can overtake the preceding rod. This arrangement is of course known in itself.

The present invention is directed particularly to the arrangement of several tapered guide members 22-30 spaced from one another and having lift and lower mechanisms running in the travel direction of the rods up to that for the final guide member 30, which are adapted to be connected individually, additively and progressively. Each tapered guide member 22-28 is operatively connected as regards the cut-off action to a following rectangular bottom plate 100 as well as a further bottom plate 10b extending to a rearward tip. To show the parts more clearly the first, third and final groups of guide members with the associated bottom plates 10a and 10b are shown raised in the drawings. The bottom plates 10b which taper rearwardly to a point complement the respectively following tapered guide members 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 to form a rectangular bottom plate so that no gaps are left between the rollway rolls.

The manner in which the control of the plate groups 20-28 with the associated bottom plates 10a and 10b is effected in accordance with the invention will be seen from FIG. 3. Two successive plate groups I and II in the direction of travel A of the rods will be seen and they have been indicated purely diagrammatically. It is assumed that the plate group I consists of the first tapered guide member 20 and the following bottom plates 10a and 10b. i i

The common lifting and lowering mechanism for all the base plates and guide members on the cooling bed side consists of a single pull rod 32 to which bell cranks 34, 36, 38 and 40 are attached by their downwardly extending arms. Horizontally extending arms of the bell cranks are pivotally connected to bearing members 41, 42, 44, and 46 of the plates. When the pull rod 32 is moved in the direction of the arrow B by a drive magnet or otherwise the plate groups I and 11 are raised.

According to the invention each plate group I, II and so on is associated with a section 32a, 32b and so on of the pull rod 32. Hydraulic piston/cylinder units are arranged between all the sections, with cylinder 48 hingedly connected at 52 to one section, for example 320, and with the piston 50 hinged at 54 to the following section, for example 32b. The piston of each unit 48, 50 can be acted on by hydraulic medium on the side opposite to the piston rod by means of a pipe connection 56. If all the piston rods 50 are in the inward position as shown and locked by cutting off the pipe 56 to prevent movement in the direction B, the pull rod 32 is operable as a whole so that all the plate groups execute the same movements as the rise and fall bottom plates 10 over the whole entry rollway.

By this arrangement the result is secured that when rods run on to the entry rollway 4 at the maximum speed requiring the longest brake path the following rods in each case may be deflected by the first tapered guide member 20. For a somewhat smaller entry speed the drive for the first plate group I is cut off by opening the feed pipe 56 of the piston cylinder unit 50 following the section 32a. Thereby the section 32a does not execute the longitudinal movement with the section 32 b and the bell cranks 34, 36 are not moved and remain inoperative as the result of an idle stroke of the piston rod 50 within the cyinder 48. The rod section 32a beneath the plate I does not move due to the weight of plate group I so that the latter is not lifted. Only the bell cranks 38, 40 of the plate group II move into the position shown in chain dot lines so that the plate group ll is lifted and the tapered guide member 22 is that which deflects the rods on to the fixed bottom plate 8. If the plate group II is also to be locked in the lower position where the entry speed is still lower the next cylinder piston unit is released and operates idly in the same way. The pipes 58 of the cylinders 48 release any oil leaks and serve for venting the other piston faces in order that the idle movements of the piston rods 50 are not hindered by compression of air.

In the same way the plate groups with the guide members 24, 26, 28 can be additively or progressively cut off so that for the minimum entry speed only the guide member 30 acts as a deflector and the drive therefore does not need to be controlled.

What we claim is:

LAn entry rollway for cooling beds in rod rolling mills for guiding, retarding and separating closely following rods comprising:

a. roll wa'y having rolls, b. a cooling bed,

c. a plurality of fixed bottom plates positioned adjacent the rolls of the rollway on the side remote from the cooling bed,

d. a plurality of bottom plates movable relative to said fixed bottom plates positioned adjacent the rolls of the rollway and adjacent the cooling bed,

e. the foremost movable bottom plate in successive series of said movable bottom plates being a tapered guide member, said tapered guide members remainder of said movable bottom members following said tapered guide members in a desired 2. Entry rollway according to claim 1 in which the groups of selectively operable tapered guide members having a substantially vertical surface tapered rela 10 and bottom plates are associated with sections of a pull tive to the entry direction for deflecting rods to the side of the rollway remote from the cooling bed and toward said fixed bottom plates,

f. means common to said movable bottom members for displacing said tapered guide members and the rod which can be selectively connected by hydraulic piston/cylinder units which are adapted to be locked together to transmit operating forces or to function idly when forces are not to be transmitted. 

1. An entry rollway for cooling beds in rod rolling mills for guiding, retarding and separating closely following rods comprising: a. roll way having rolls, b. a cooling bed, c. a plurality of fixed bottom plates positioned adjacent the rolls of the rollway on the side remote from the cooling bed, d. a plurality of bottom plates movable relative to said fixed bottom plates positioned adjacent the rolls of the rollway and adjacent the cooling bed, e. the foremost movable bottom plate in successive series of said movable bottom plates being a tapered guide member, said tapered guide members having a substantially vertical surface tapered relative to the entry direction for deflecting rods to the side of the rollway remote from the cooling bed and toward said fixed bottom plates, f. means common to said movable bottom members for displacing said tapered guide members and the remainder of said movable bottom members following said tapered guide members in a desired manner whereby said guide members may be moved in a plurality of combinations, such as singly, progressively and additively, to selectively, laterally deflect following rods toward the portion of the rollway having said fixed bottom plates.
 2. Entry rollway according to claim 1 in which the groups of selectively operable tapered guide members and bottom plates are associated with sections of a pull rod which can be selectively connected by hydraulic piston/cylinder units which are adapted to be locked together to transmit operating forces or to function idly when forces are not to be transmitted. 